Western & Southern Open: Gauff powers past Paolini to reach semi-finals

American Coco Gauff, the No 7 seed, reached the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open by defeating Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-2 at the Linder Tennis Family Center in Cincinnati on Friday afternoon.

The win sees Gauff continue her strong form on American hard courts this season, with the 19-year-old winning the WTA 500 in Washington and making the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 in Montreal earlier this month.

Gauff is now into her third Masters-level semi-final, and will play Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, next.

In the previous rounds of the Cincy Open, the 19-year-old American won against Egyptian Mayar Sherif (6-2, 6-2) and qualifier Linda Noskova (6-4, 6-0). Paolini, ranked No 43, beat Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (6-2, 6-1), Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa (6-1, 6-3) and Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 4 seed (4-6, 5-2 ret.) earlier in the tournament.

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (Linder Tennis Family Center, hard, USD 2.788.468, most recent results first):

• Ons Jabeur vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Karolina Muchova beat Marie Bouzkova: 3-0 ret.
• Iga Swiatek beat Marketa Vondrousova (10): 7-6 (3), 6-1

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